Planning for a Stress-Free Thanksgiving

Spoiler: It's impossible.

Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away and it can be a stressful time for home cooks, especially if you aren’t used to cooking large birds. Plus, there’s the mental stress of screwing it up!

Let’s talk through some tips and tricks I use every year to try to take some of the stress off of Thanksgiving meal prep. After all, it’s supposed to be a fun day and one that you hopefully don’t have to spend the entirety in your kitchen (unless that’s what you want)!

Bird Talk

Let’s get the biggest item out of the way: The turkey.

The good news is that I think most people have generally low expectations for turkey. So, it’s easy to impress people with a decent centerpiece bird and pretty hard to disappoint people as there will be plenty of other good stuff to eat.

So, ironically, the turkey shouldn’t be a huge stressor for you.

These days, I usually fry my turkey on Thanksgiving because it leads to a very juicy turkey and also cooks fast and keeps my oven free for other things. I get that this is maybe a reach for most people, but if you are interested in frying a turkey I trust the Serious Eats guide to turkey frying.

If you aren’t frying your bird, two additional tips you might try:

First, brine your bird. Whether you do a wet brine or a dry brine, you’ll end up with a much more flavorful and juicy bird. Dry brine is very easy (My Dry Brine recipe) or you can do a wet brine which is more involved but can have more flavor. (I like this apple cider brine).

Second, spatchcock! If you aren’t wed to the idea of a picturesque bird on your table, spatchcocking the bird will lead to very even cooking (juicier) and it cooks in about half the time. It’s a total win. (My Spatchcock turkey recipe - you can skip the harissa seasoning if you want)

NOTE: Don’t forget to let your turkey thaw for 3-4 days before Thanksgiving. It takes a long time!

Make as Much as Possible in Advance

Luckily, most Thanksgiving recipes can be made well in advance and reheat very nicely. Here’s the list of things I make in advance every year:

• Pies

• Stuffing

• Rolls

• Mashed Potatoes

• Stock for gravy

• Cranberry Sauce

That means my day-off prep is usually limited to:

• Turkey

• Gravy

• A side or two

• Appetizers

• Reheating items

I’ve found that to be a pretty good division of labor for my kitchen.

Delegate Dishes

If you are having a larger feast with multiple families coming over, definitely delegate dishes.

Make sure you are making your favorites, but invite all guests to bring their favorites as well and just make sure you don’t end up with too many of one type of dish. (4 versions of stuffing is probably overkill).

Pies Pies Pies

I absolutely love making pies for Thanksgiving and usually switch between a few different recipes.

I have my pie method pretty locked down, but if you are new to pie baking I highly recommend doing a test pie in the next week or two so you know you are ready to go.

Also, you can make pies a day or two in advance without a problem.

Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving without pie in my opinion though!

Make Up a Game

Two years ago, my wife came up with a really fun idea for Thanksgiving: A Family Olympics! We have 10 different events every year that kicked off throughout the day. It gives everyone something to talk about and took some of the focus off the kitchen (and the TV).

Not to brag but I’ve claimed the turkey hat two years in a row.

Some of the games include:

• Egg race

• Balance challenges

• Tallest build out of Magnatiles

• Mario Kart Challenge

• Drawing a rainbow

• Hoola-Hoop Challenge

Let’s Chat!

If you have stressful points you are worried about this year, leave a comment! If you have tips for a stree-free day, also leave a comment!